


Youngblood (say you want me)

by slowjaems



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - College/University, Band Fic, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, M/M, Underage Drinking, inspired by the movie linda linda linda, lots of drinking and smoking in general, rival bands, the genres range from punk rock to some indie rock, theres some fighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 13:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowjaems/pseuds/slowjaems
Summary: Due to a longstanding rivalry, Jaemin’s band and Jeno’s band are prepared to face off at their university’s annual music festival. This year, scheduling conflicts and budget issues force the two bands to become one. With just a few months to prepare, longtime rivals Na Jaemin and Lee Jeno must see eye to eye on how to create a performance that will turn the tides of the competition.





	Youngblood (say you want me)

 

 

 

 

 

Na Jaemin is having a shit day. He’s pretty sure he just failed his Anatomy exam, he didn’t have enough money to get an Americano today, his ex-boyfriend (that he thought he was over) has been making Snapchat stories with some cute pre-med student and after a bit of stalking on Jaemin’s part, he’s _still_ not sure if they’re dating or not, and to top it all off Donghyuck is late. Donghyuck is always _late_. Jaemin is used to it by now even though he hates waiting. But for Donghyuck to be late on the day of sign ups for their university’s annual music fest is making Jaemin clench his jaw. Or maybe it’s his caffeine withdrawals, he’s not too sure. He just knows that his hand is shaking, and his stomach is twisting in a way that makes Jaemin frown. Signups ended at 1, it was now half past twelve and Donghyuck was nowhere to be seen.

They needed to sign up before the deadline or their spot would be taken. They also needed to track down Renjun before someone else got their hands on the Junior Art major. Renjun was a triple threat. He could play multiple instruments, was incredibly gorgeous, and had the stage presence of a God – but most importantly, he could _sing_. Jaemin was his band’s lead guitarist and he could hold a tune, but he much preferred being a background vocalist. Donghyuck was their keyboardist and he had a beautiful voice, but his recent craving for cigarettes made his vocals unpredictable. He had been their main vocalist the first time they competed at the annual music festival. They had come in second place but had been given the award for crowd favorite and had even been recognized by their school’s music department. They were on top of the world that night, but upon returning to reality, Jaemin became obsessed with planning for the next year’s competition and Donghyuck’s issues with his father had led him to Marlboro’s as if they could cure his need for fatherly affection. His voice suffered the strain of his coping mechanism and Jaemin was disappointed to realize that they would have to find a new singer to replace what they had lost.

 Jaemin had drove himself a bit crazy looking for a new lead singer – he had searched social media, stalked their school’s music department, and even jokingly made a posting on Craigslist one night with Donghyuck (one in which he then proceeded to check every morning for a response). Luckily, one of his classmates was kind enough to tell him about Renjun – the kid who’s band had won the music festival in favor of Jaemin’s. Apparently, following their success, Renjun had some differences with his bandmates and decided to go his separate ways. Instead of continuing to pursue music, he decided to focus on school, but after being hounded by other bands to become their new singer he made a compromise: he’d sing for whichever band got to him first on the day of sign ups. When sign ups rolled around his sophomore year, Jaemin had run out of his Microbiology lab like he was on fire – he had run to the other side of campus, tackled one guy near the Art department entrance, and picked himself up just in time to catch Renjun leaving his Art History class. They had found a drummer who had recently quit his band as well, and with Renjun as their front man, that year, they had won the music festival.

The afterparty was always at Kim Doyoung’s apartment, an upperclassman who won in the solo category every year. Jaemin and Donghyuck had been wasted, but most importantly, happy and winners, and it was all thanks to Renjun who snickered and recorded the entirety of their drunken adventures for his Snapchat story. Despite the bond they had formed over the course of preparing for the festival, Renjun declined when Jaemin asked for him to become a permanent fixture in their band. He thanked Jaemin for helping him to remember his passion for music and then returned to his refuge in the Art Department. The next year, Jaemin had a Calculus exam during the time of sign ups, so he trusted Donghyuck to get to Renjun before others did. Of course, Donghyuck was late and they lost Renjun to some new band on the scene. They were growing in popularity and Jaemin knew one of their guitarists, Mark Lee, from Organic Chemistry his freshman year. He thought Mark was a nervous wreck and was a bit too clean cut to be playing songs about sex, drugs, and all the other raunchy shit the likes of Lee Jeno could come up with. Either way, they had lost Renjun out to _The Underclass Rut_ – “What a terrible fucking name,” Donghyuck had scoffed after stalking their band’s Instagram page.  

But Jaemin didn’t have time to worry about shitty band names, he locked himself in his garage studio and wrote, played, and sung until living off of Americano’s gave him an almost permanent jitter. But it was useless, Lee Jeno, for all his other shitty qualities, was an amazing songwriter and that combined with Renjun’s smooth vocals made for a win for _The Underclass Rut_ at the second annual music fest. Again, Jaemin and Donghyuck found themselves drunk at Doyoung’s afterparty. But that time, there was no celebration, just two piss drunk kids pissed at how they had been cheated by mediocrity.

Things came to a highlight when Donghyuck, after his sixth drink, posted a shady tweet about Mark singing background vocals for a song about fucking in a basement when he sat front row at his father’s sermons every Sunday. Somehow, Mark saw the tweet (“He’s not even following me. What the fuck?” Donghyuck had slurred while Jaemin had frowned in agreement) and decided to send out his own bullshit, good guy tweet about not judging others. Jaemin himself was wasted and pissed and not in the mood for Mark’s good Christian nature. But before he could send his own tweet, Jeno beat him to it. ‘ _Sometimes its better to attack others on Twitter than to accept the fact that your band is second best_ ’ Jeno had tweeted and wow, did Jaemin want to tweet him back and tell him to worry about his girlfriend sliding into other guy’s DMS and not Jaemin’s band. Instead, he merely tweeted about Jeno’s mediocre songwriting (which was a lie, Jeno is some sort of songwriting genius, but Jaemin refuses to acknowledge the fact) and then called it  a night.

The next day, campus was buzzing with the latest gossip – the apparent beef between _The Underclass Rut_ and _The Sleepwalkers_. Kim Doyoung, a journalism major, had even written an entire article for the school’s newspaper about the entire ordeal. People wondered if the tensions would ever come to a height, and on a few occasions, they almost did. Whenever they came across Jeno and Mark at parties, it took all of Jaemin’s strength to prevent not only Donghyuck from choking Mark Lee, but also Jaemin himself from wiping the smug smirk off of Jeno’s lips. _The Underclass Rut_ had won the second annual music festival, so what – Jaemin would make it his mission that they didn’t win the third or any that followed. “You all are very dumb,” Renjun had told him while molding clay on a wheel when Jaemin had come to see him the day before signs up. He wanted to make sure Renjun was accounted for and present in the Art Department.

He also wanted to know where the boy would be on the day of sign ups – it gave him the advantage over the likes of people like Jeno, who hadn’t taken the time to bond with Renjun because he was too busy giving him pathetic heart eyes the entire time, as Renjun had told Jaemin with a cringe that made Jaemin laugh much too loudly for such a simple statement. But Jaemin really just really took joy in knowing that Jeno saw something he wanted (in this case, Renjun) and couldn’t have, but also, it made Jaemin wonder why Jeno still had a girlfriend when he had tried to hook up with Renjun.

Maybe things weren’t as perfect as Jeno liked to present them. Jaemin loves chaos and so does Donghyuck, he had mimicked the evil villains from every superhero movie when Jaemin told him – the brunet had rubbed his hands together sinisterly and then proceeded to post every picture he had that was remotely suggestive with Renjun (“Since the Underclass muts are so keen on watching my Twitter,” He had shrugged afterwards). Jaemin had laughed and hyped up his friend’s shadiness, but he had also felt a bit bad for Jeno – he knew all too well what it was like to want something that it seemed like you couldn’t have.

 

 

 

 

**Yukhei**

_still waiting for hyuck? btw, i facetimed_

_renjun and he’s moved from the fine arts building_

_and is going to the starbucks in the english dept rn_

 

 

 

 

 

Jaemin stares at the text from his ex-boyfriend, Wong Yukhei. They had been off and of for the three years Jaemin has been at Uni, but Yukhei graduated last year and decided to end things with Jaemin because they were always mostly on bad terms rather than good. Jaemin had said that he understood and was fine being just friends with the Wong boy, then proceeded to lock himself in his room and write “the most depressing songs I have ever fucking heard”, in Donghyuck’s words. For Jaemin, Yukhei was the reason he wrote music. Yukhei made him feel things, things that Jaemin had a hard time feeling at times. He just knew that he wanted to pick up a pen and talk about it with his lyrics. Also, Yukhei supported him, a lot. He told Jaemin that the sky was the limit, but even the sky didn’t feel like it could stop Jaemin, as far as being with Yukhei was concerned. It felt like he had been dreaming the entire time he had been in their relationship and all it took was their breakup to wake him up – _The Sleepwalkers_ was Jaemin realizing that perhaps everything hadn’t been perfect. Either way, he still loves Yukhei. And he kind of wants to ask about the cute blond that he’s been posting everywhere on social media. But instead, Na Jaemin pushes his bitterness aside and types a quick reply.

 

 

 

 

**Jaemin**

_still waiting on little duck and wow,_

_10/10 stalking skills u have there,_

_but uk u don’t have to help me, right?_

 

 

 

 

 

Jaemin is expecting some sort of strange, thoughtless comment from the other boy because Yukhei always deflects any attempt Jaemin makes at being serious with him with comedy. It’s annoying because when Jaemin is feeling particularly bitter and tries to take it out on him, Yukhei just jokes about his caffeine withdrawal and Jaemin is quickly embarrassed into silence. Luckily, this is not one of those times. Instead, his ex decides to shock him in another way.

 

 

 

 

 

**Yukhei**

_i don’t have to, but i want to_

 

 

 

 

 

Jaemin stares at the message, feeling his face flush with from embarrassment and affection. He clutches his phone then pretends to throw it. A girl leaving the Science Center stares at him weirdly, but he ignores her. He focuses his attention back on his phone and replies.

 

 

 

 

**Jaemin**

_wow,,, that’s peak gay_ _™ content right there, wong._

_hyuck would be proud._

 

 

 

**Yukhei**

_whatever, u deserve to win the festival this year_

_and i want to help in any way that i can…_ _i’m always_

_here to support u. don’t stress yourself out this time_

_around, okay? you’ll do fine at the festival._

_everything will be okay, i promise._

 

 

 

 

 

At this, Jaemin actually bends over on the bench he’s seated on and tries not to die.

“Is there a reason you look like you’re on the verge of an actual heart attack?” An amused voice asks and thank God it’s Donghyuck with a macchiato in one hand and his black bookbag slung over his shoulder, “You’re a Junior in college now. We get it, you’re old.”

“Where were you?” Jaemin asks while Donghyuck laughs at his own joke, “Sign ups are in less than ten minutes and we still have to find Renjun.”

“Calm down Jaeminson The Third, I failed my psych quiz, so I had to go to my professor’s office to beg for a retake,” Donghyuck says, “And you know how professors are, ‘oh my God this assholes’ grade is in my hands, let me bore him with stories about when I was an undergrad and I was on coke and ecstasy every night but somehow managed to turn in my three essays on time and ace all of my quizzes and exams because I worked hard and just _somehow_ that outweighs the fact that I was both a drug addict _and_ an alcoholic’”  

“Oh my God,” Jaemin gasps, too busy looking at the time on his Apple Watch to pay any attention to his bandmate’s lengthy explanation. It was 12:55 p.m.

“Right?” Donghyuck replies, thinking Jaemin was agreeing with him. He takes a sip of his macchiato and Jaemin rolls his eyes before hopping up from the bench.

“Shut up. Let’s go, now!”

Jaemin grabs his friend’s hand and drags him along through the busy campus. He nearly tramples his anatomy professor in the process. The man shoots Jaemin such an intense look that it lets Jaemin knows not to bother checking his grade later that nights – he definitely failed his exam. Signups for the annual music fest were held in the Music Department building, or more specifically the office of Moon Taeil, the Dean of the Music Department. Taeil was young for a professor and a dean and he was very bright and upbeat. He wasn’t just there to teach music, he really loved it. He was the one who encouraged Jaemin to partake in the first music fest and he’s always made sure that he continued to participate in them. Though he wasn’t a music major, Jaemin spent a lot of time in the Music Department speaking with Dean Moon. He considered the man to be a mentor almost.

Unfortunately, Dean Moon couldn’t give him special privileges by letting him sign up early. So, when they make it to Taeil’s office on the third floor of the Music Department, Jaemin and Donghyuck have to wait in the long line to sign up just like everyone else. Jaemin realizes that by the time they sign up, someone else will probably have gotten to Renjun before them, someone like Lee Jeno and his Underclass Losers, as Donghyuck liked to call them. But Jaemin refused to let that happen – he would not lose this year’s festival to Jeno, he simply refused to do so. He’s so desperate that he just texts Renjun though he knows its against his friends’ rules for bands to contact him through text or call. Jaemin is expecting to be ignored but Renjun actually responds, though it’s a response that Jaemin isn’t too pleased with.

 

 

 

 

 

 **Renjun** **♡**

_i actually dk if i’ll be able to do the festival_

_this year. i’m tutoring a freshman in college_

_algebra during our usual rehearsal times._

 

 

 

**Jaemin**

_uh, dump him, throw an algebra book at_

_his head!1!1! we rlly need u renjunie: (_

 

 

 

 **Renjun** **♡**

_sorry, i kind of need the money… and besides,_

_didn’t they change the rules this year? you_

_should have plenty of options for singers now._

_you won’t really need me anymore._

 

 

 

 

Jaemin frowns at this because _what_? They had changed the rules of the festival? He hadn’t heard anything about that. But he doesn’t think he likes the sound of what he’s hearing so far. What did Renjun mean by they didn’t need him? Everyone needed Renjun. It was why Jaemin had bombed his Anatomy test and it was why he almost had a heart attack thirty minutes ago, because he was afraid that they _wouldn’t_ get Renjun. The festival wouldn’t be the same without him. Jaemin’s kind of lost on what to do about a lead singer now, but at least he’s assured that Jeno won’t get Renjun instead.

Jaemin has never really heard Jeno sing, even in their songs without Renjun or some other nameless singer, he even let Mark take the lead in place of himself. Jaemin isn’t much of a singer himself, but during the times that Donghyuck smokes heavily, he tries his hand at singing whatever he writes. Most of the time it’s low melodies because he doesn’t really have to try hard and he likes to drown out the vocals with beats and melodies anyway. He’s not a songwriting genius like Jeno, but he’s really good at putting things together and creating the mood of each song that he made (“There’s something about your songs, Jaemin. I can really feel them,” Dean Moon had told him after Jaemin came to rant about his breakup with Yukhei only to show the Dean the entire SoundCloud album he had created from his feelings instead). Now, Jaemin is lost about both the music and the festival. When its finally their turn to sign up, Donghyuck pats him on the shoulder sympathetically as they enter Dean Moon’s office.

“If it isn’t the famous _Sleepwalkers_ ,” Dean Moon greets them with a kind smile. Jaemin can see bags behind his gold specs and he knows that the elder has been working hard on the festival. Still, he’s nothing but nice and bright as he ushers them in with the wave of his hand, “I hope this semester has been going well for you two so far.”

“Well, Jaemin is living off of Americano’s and he checks Yukhei’s Instagram more than he does his grades,” Donghyuck answers, “And I’m going to start taking ecstasy and living off Tequila in hopes that it will motivate me to study harder and live to tell the story of my success to future failures.”

“Oh” Dean Moon murmurs, he inhales faintly before squinting at Donghyuck, “You want to become a professor?”

“He gets it!” Donghyuck exclaims with a grin while Jaemin rolls his eyes.

“We’ve been okay, Dean Moon. You look a bit tired. I see you must be working hard on the festival. Speaking of which, are there any spots left?” Jaemin tries to ask as smoothly as possible.

“Of course, there a still plenty of spots left!” Taeil claims. He picks up the clipboard from his desk full of signatures and time slots only to frown slightly, “I’m afraid that, with the new rules this year, quite a few people have decided not to participate, especially in the band category.”

“New Rules?” Donghyuck repeats followed by a nervous laugh, “Do we really need those? We should just keep those as that Dua Lipa song and let that be that.”

“I agree Mr. Lee, but I’m afraid it’s not me – it’s the school.” Dean Moon says, “The University is on a tight budget this year and unfortunately the Music Department has gotten the shortest end of the stick. The music festival has been cut down to six hours instead of its usual nine. Due to the three-hour difference, we’ve had to cut down on a few categories and mesh some together. For the band category, we’ve switched from individual band sign ups to joint band sign ups. In order to compete at the festival, bands must compete together in twos instead of as one single band. This is to limit the band performance time to make up for the lost hours. I’m really sorry, but it was the best that the festival committee could come up with on such short notice.”

Jaemin kind of wants to scream. He already had a hard time getting everything together for his own band. How would he able to keep things together for his band and another one? That, and he didn’t want to combine his content with anyone else’s. _The Sleepwalkers_ was his precious creation, he didn’t trust his baby with anyone else. But without the addition of a second band, they wouldn’t be able to compete. And he’s been planning for the festival since last year, not competing was out of the question. Maybe he could find a way around the new rules. He could find a drummer and a singer and claim they are a band – it was perfect. Unfortunately, his perfect plan is ruined when Dean Moon clears his throat and continues.

“The festival committee has also highlighted the notion that in order for both bands to be recognized, they must have registered for previous festivals. This year, only previous competitors may compete,” He says. Donghyuck purses his lips and that’s how Jaemin knows his timeline is going to be filled with a series of tweets dragging the festival committee. Dean Moon smiles sympathetically before returning his attention to the clipboard, “My apologies again. We have a list of bands already joined and ready to compete and then we have those waiting to find another band to mesh with. Mostly everyone has joined up, but there is still one band waiting on a counterpart. I think its perfect actually. They’re pretty popular, just like you guys.”

Despite the warm smile Dean Moon gives them, Jaemin is filled with immense dread. He had a terrible feeling that the other band was the one that he would rather die than join up with. Would fate be that cruel? Jaemin kind of wants to laugh. He’s just being negative because of his fears, a habit that Yukhei always scolded him about. But he thinks he has a right to be negative, especially when two new arrivals come busting into Dean Moon’s office like they own the place. And _dammit_ , what did Jaemin even do to fate for her to come spitting in his face like that?

“Sorry Dean Moon, we’re back and we were wondering if another band signed up yet that we could mesh with-“ It’s Mark Lee and Lee Jeno, looking like the underclass losers that they are. Mark is the one speaking, all polite and nice (“This is the same guy who called me a devil worshipper on Twitter,” Donghyuck always said whenever Mark Lee so much as said hi to anyone). Jeno is dragging in behind him, bag slung over his shoulder with his usual careless expression.

“There is!” Dean Moon exclaims, practically jumping out of his desk chair with excitement. He calms himself somewhat, motioning to Jaemin and Donghyuck very excitedly, “ _Underclass Rut_ , I present, _The Sleepwalkers_! _God_ , I can only imagine the music now.”

While Dean Moon is too busy bouncing excitedly, Jaemin and Donghyuck turn to glare at Mark, who steps back nervously, and Jeno, who simply stares blankly at them in return.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Mark mutters in a way that neither Jaemin nor Donghyuck are meant to hear, but they still do anyway. It doesn’t help how Jeno makes a snide face at the turn of events as well.

“This is fine. It’s okay, Jaemin. I promise.” Donghyuck mutters, placing a hand on Jaemin’s arm as if to calm him, but Jaemin knows its mostly to calm himself. Donghyuck closes his eyes briefly and lets out a calming breath, only to completely break when he looks over and Mark Lee is shaking his head, “That’s it, I can take being dragged on Twitter by Mr. First Sunday, but not in person too.”

And then he’s _jumping_ out of his seat, prepared to launch himself at the other Lee boy in the room. Mark looks startled, he jumps back a bit behind Jeno and looks as if he’s contemplating bolting entirely. Jeno crosses his arms over his chest and has the audacity to look annoyed and Jaemin kind of wants to punch him in the face for it. Dean Moon is still rattling off about all of the “wonderful” music they will make together. Jaemin wonders if he knows that Jeno is a shit songwriter and Jaemin will be carrying all of the weight (or they’ll probably make magic because Jeno is good with words and Jaemin is great at decorating them, but Jaemin just really refuses to believe working with the Underclass Losers will be anything but a disaster).

“Where’s Renjun?” Jeno asks, speaking as if talking to Jaemin really took a lot out of him. It makes Jaemin smirk because ha, fuck Lee Jeno’s energy. He’s happy he can drain it like a damn vampire.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” He shoots back, all the while still restraining a struggling Donghyuck.

“I don’t know. You just seem so keen on spending all of your time in the Art Department when you’re not even an Art major.” Is Jeno’s reply that kind of makes Jaemin want to tell the other boy to go fuck himself. Why was he stalking Jaemin’s actual life?

“How do you know I’m not an Art major?” He asks instead.

“Because I’ve heard the shit you write,” Jeno replies. He snorts before leaning closer and smirking, “You don’t have one creative bone in your body.”

And that’s when Jaemin abandons restraining his bandmate to make a dive at Lee Jeno himself. Donghyuck snaps out of his own fit and quickly grabs the back of his bandmate’s shirt. And that’s how things go in the Dean of Music’s office that afternoon. Mark Lee is tweeting a Bible verse about anger and soothing yourself with the word of God, Lee Jeno is smirking as Donghyuck attempts to block the chair that Jaemin picks up and tries to throw at Jeno’s _head_ , and Dean Moon is enthusiastically typing up an email about the music festival featuring his two favorite bands to send to the entire student body.

Day one until the festival was complete, just sixty-two more to go.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I hope whoever is reading this finds this story interesting. It's partially inspired by the movie Linda, Linda, Linda but also punk rock/indie rock music in general. Despite their lack of appearance in the first chapter, Chenle and Renjun actually have huge roles in this. This chapter was just kind of an introduction to (some) of the characters and the plot. Thanks for reading!


End file.
